Number of Marriages Among Women in Early 40s Surpasses Those in 20s
Delayed Marriage Age... Influenced by Changing Values and More
Last year, the number of brides in their early 40s exceeded that of brides in their early 20s. This appears to be the result of several factors, including a decrease in the population of people in their 20s and changing values regarding marriage.
According to the National Statistical Portal (KOSIS) of Statistics Korea on the 20th, the number of marriages among women in their early 40s (ages 40?44) last year was 10,949, which was higher than the number of marriages among women in their early 20s (ages 20?24), which was 10,113. The number of marriages among women in their early 40s has surpassed that of women in their early 20s for two consecutive years, following 2021.
In 2021, marriages among women in their early 40s numbered 10,412, surpassing the number of marriages among women in their early 20s (9,985) for the first time since marriage statistics by age group began in 1990.
Marriage Numbers for Women in Their Early 20s Down 93% Over 25 Years
Compared to 25 years ago, the total number of marriages decreased by 51%, from 388,960 in 1997 to 191,690 in 2022. In particular, the number of marriages among women in their early 20s dropped by 93%, from 136,918 to 10,113. Conversely, the number of marriages among women in their early 40s increased by 50% during the same period, from 7,322 to 10,949. Especially, first marriages among women in their 40s rose from 1,484 in 1997 to 5,835 last year, nearly 3.9 times higher.
The structural change of a declining population of women in their 20s is cited as a primary background for this phenomenon. Looking at the resident registration population by age group (the arithmetic average of the resident registration population at the beginning and end of the year), the number of women in their early 20s decreased by 29.2%, from 2,047,000 in 1997 to 1,449,000 in 2022, while the number of women in their early 40s increased by 16.3%, from 1,682,000 to 1,956,000 during the same period.
Changes in values regarding marriage also had an impact. According to last year’s social survey by Statistics Korea, the proportion of people in their 20s who believe they must get married was 35.1%, the lowest among all age groups except for teenagers (29.1%). For those in their 40s, the figure was 42.3%.
Meanwhile, the proportion of couples where the wife is older than the husband also reached an all-time high since related statistics began. Among first-marriage couples last year, 19.4% were couples where the wife was older, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the previous year. This means that one in five first-marriage couples is an age-gap couple with the wife older than the husband.
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